Dictation transcriber&#39;s receiving apparatus



March 1, 1966 A. R. PECK 3,238,307

DICTATION TRANSGRIBERS RECEIVING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ARTHUR R. PECK March 1, 1966 A. R. PECK 3,238,307

DIGTATION TRANSCRIBER'S RECEIVING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ARTHUR R. PECK BY M. 17-3 AGENT United States Patent 3,238,307 DICTATION TRANSCRIBERS RECEIVING APPARATUS Arthur R. Peck, 117 11th St'., Garden City, N. Filed Dec. 17, 1962, Ser. No. 245,044 6 Claims. (Cl. 179-1001) This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 227,509, filed October 1, 1962, entitled Dictation Transcribers Receiving Apparatus, now abandoned.

This invention relates to sound equipment for transmitting intelligence such as voice sounds to a listener through a listeners headset and for transmitting simultaneously through the same headset a low level sound forming preferably suitable background music. More particularly, the invention relates to a dictation transcribing apparatus which provides continuous background music through the transcribers headset during the transcribing of recorded dictation.

For purposes of the present invention, the term headset" is herein employed to mean an appendage to be worn on or attached to a listeners head for transmitting sound to either one or both ears of the listener.

In transcribing recorded dictation a transcribing operator goes through the routine of starting the reproducing machine and listening to a portion of recorded dictation comprising a few words to a sentence or more depending upon the complexity of the subject matter, and then of stopping the machine and typing the dictation just reproduced. It is well known that this routine can become tiring and monotonous when carried out over long periods of time.

The present invention resides in the discovery that when music is fed continuously through the transcribers headset to the transcriber at a low level to provide a faintly audible background which however is readily audible during the periods when the dictation is typed, the whole process of transcribing dictation becomes much less monotonous and fatiguing, and the efficiency of the transcriber is greatly increased. Moreover, transcribing operators are found to have a more favorable attitude towards their jobs and to produce a better quality of transcription when the background music is provided. One reason for these favorable results appears to be that a background music fed continuously through the listeners headset along with the reproduced dictation masks the amplifier and record noise inherent in the recording and reproducing equipment so that the listener is no longer conscious of any background noise level.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel dictation transcribers receiving apparatus and system wherein background music is fed continuously to the transcribing operator through the transcribers headset during the transcribing operation. I 7

Another object is to provide such apparatus with independent volume controls for the dictation and music to enable the transcriber to adjust the music level so that it forms a faintly audible background sufiicient to mask the record noise level while the dictation is received and forms a pleasant audible level of music background during periods when the dictation is typed.

Another object is to provide novel forms of transcribers headsets for enabling background music to be transmitted to a transcribing operator during the transcribing of dictation.

A further object is to provide an improved transcribers receiving apparatus comprising a transcribers headset having a pair of sound coupled earpieces with provision for transmitting dictation directly to one earpiece and music directly to the other earpiece.

Such and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

In the description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a view partly diagrammatic illustrating a dictation transcribers equipment with use of a preferred form of headset for providing background music to the transcriber during the transcribing operation;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram of the coupling circuits from the dictation source and music source to the headset of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view illustrating a modified form of transcribers headset according to a second embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a view illustrating still another form of transcribers headset for the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 shows a modified form of the headset shown in FIGURE 2 wherein dictation is fed to one earpiece and music is fed to the other earpiece without any sound coupling between the two earpieces.

The embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2 comprises a dictation transcribing machine 10 (a dictation-reproducing machine adapted es pecially for transcribers) which may be of any standard form such for example as is described in the Silverman Patent No. 2,976,048, issued March 21, 1961. This transcribing machine comprises a lid 11 at the right side of its housing which can be raised to open a slot 12 for insertion of a disk record R onto a turntable 13 (FIG- URE 2). Upon then returning the lid to its closed position the disk record is clamped at its central hub portion to the turntable. A carriage (not shown) supports a reproducing head 14 in contact with the record and is driven progressively across the turntable as the turntable is rotated by a suitable drive means not shown. Projecting forwardly from the carriage is an index arm 15 which is moved along an index slip 16 during the travel of the carriage. Such index slip typically has so-called length marks to denote the beginning and ending of each separate dictation letter or unit as well as correction marks to denote where errors or changes have been made during the dictation-recording operation. A scan knob 17 at the top of the machine can be turned to the right or left to shift the head carriage forwardly or rearwardly so that the transcriber can readily scan any selected portion of the disk record.

A remote control unit 18 is connected to the transscribing machine through a cable 19 and is typically mounted at the front of the transcribing operators typewriter 20 fractionally shown. This control unit-Which may be of the type disclosed in the Walker Patent No. 3,407,698, issued July 31, l962-comprises a listen button 21 which is successively depressible to alternately start and stop the drive mechanism on the transcribing machine. Also, the control unit has a repeat button 22 which is successively depressible to backspace the head carriage by steps to enable the transcriber to listen back to any desired pohtion of the recorded dictation.

The reproducer head is connected through a volume control 23 and amplifier 24 to a jack 25 mounted on the back wall of the transcribing machine. Engaging this jack is a plug 26 connected by a pair of lead wires 27 of the cable 19 and from the control unit 18 via a pair v of lead wires 27a of a cable 28 to a transcribers headset scribing machine through circuits 34 and a volume control 35 to a jack 36 also mounted on the back wall of the transcribing machine. Engaging the jack 36 is a plug 37 connected by a pair of lead wires 38 of the cable 19 and from the control unit 18 via a pair of lead wires 38a of the cable 28 to the transcribers headset 29. The dictation volume control 23 and the music volume control 35 may be manually adjusted by dials 23a and 35a at the front of the transcribing machine.

The transcribers headset 29 shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 is a preferred form for carrying out the invention. This headset comprises two earpieces 39 and 39a which are typically hollow plastic tubes with rounded tips fitted with respective soft rubber grommets 40 and. 40a for engaging the ears of the transcriber in a substantially sealed sound relationship. These earpieces have side nipples 41 and 41a to which are fitted the ends of a bowed flexible sound tube 42. This sound tube serves not only to provide an acoustic coupling between the earpieces but also a flexible headband for holding the earpieces in place in engagement with the ears of the listener. Mounted in the outer ends of the earpieces are electroacoustic transducers 43 and 43a. Connected to one of these transducers, say to the transducer 43, are the lead wires 27a from the source of dictation, and connected to the other transducer 43a are the lead wires 38a from the source of music. For example, the lead wires 27a may lead out of the cable 28 at the apex of the sound tube and be led. along the left half portion of the sound tube to the respective transducer, and the lead wires 38a may be so led along the right half portion of the sound tube to the other transducer. The lead wires may be held in place along the sound tube by any suitable means such as by clips 44.

When a transcribing operator has mounted a record disk on the turntable and closed the lid to place the transcribing machine in operable condition, she will then throw an on-off switch 30a of the tape recorder 30 to on position to activate the source of music, and will press the listen button 21 of the transcribing machine to activate the transcribing machine. While then listening to a first portion of the recorded dictation she will adjust the dictation and music volume controls 23 and 35 to set the music at a pleasant background level relative to the level of the reproduced dictation without the music being loud enough to attract attention away from the typing during the periods when the transcribing machine is stopped. Having once so set the volume controls she will proceed with the transcribing of the dictation. The volume controls will then require no further adjustment except to compensate for variations in the level of the recorded dictation on different records from different dictators.

It has been found that when operators transcribe dictation while receiving such background music they experi-" ence much less fatigue and their work output is increased and the quality of their work is improved. It is believed these improved results are obtained because the background music masks the record. noise and the outside typing noises and other disturbances present in dictation transcribing rooms to enable better concentration on the work at hand, and also because the music provides a pleasant background to alleviate the routine and tiring nature of transcribing dictation over long periods of time.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 3 the dictation and music are mixed and transmitted to a single transducer of the transcribers headset but two earpieces are provided which are intercoupled by the sound tube 4-2. Thus, the lead lines 27 to the dictation source and the lead lines 38 to the music source are connected by a mixer 45 to a single pair of output leads 46 running to the single transducer 43. This transducer is part of a transcribers headset 46 which differs from the headset 29 of the previous embodiment only in that the second earpiece 39a is not provided with a transducer and is plugged at its outer end. The second earpiece 3% is however sound coupled to the other earpiece 39 through the sound tube 42.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 4 differs from the embodiment in FIGURE 3 only in that the second earpiece 39a is eliminated and sound of mixed dictation and music is transmitted to the single earpiece 39. A dummy earpiece 47 is provided in place of the earpiece 39a only to plug the respective ear against hearing outside noises and to provide an anchor point for a yieldable headband 48 to hold the earpiece 39 in place.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG- URE 5 is the same as the embodiment of FIGURES l and 2 except that a headset 29a is used to feed dictation to one ear and music to the other car without providing any sound coupling between the two earpieces. This modification is accomplished simply by replacing the sound tube 42 of FIGURES 1 and 2 by the yieldable headband 48 of FIGURE 4.

In the alternative embodiments shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 the relative sound levels of dictation and music are adjusted as in accordance with the description of the embodiments of FIGURES l and 2 Subjective tests show that marked improvements and advantages are also obtained from the embodiments of the invention shown in FIGURE 3 and 4 but that these embodiments are not as advantageous or acceptable as the embodiment of FIGURES 1 and 2.

The embodiments of my invention herein particularly shown and described are intended to be illustrative and not necessarily limitative of my invention since the same are subject to changes and. modifications without departure from the scope of my invention, which I endeavor to express according to the following claims.

I claim:

1. A dictation transcribers receiving apparatus comprising separate earpieces for the respective ears of the transcriber, a sound transmitting tube connected between said earpieces, means for feeding dictation intermittently to one of said earpieces at a clearly audible level, and means for feeding music relatively continuously to the other of said earpieces at a low sound level to cause the music to be substantially masked by the dicta-tion but to be audible during intervals of no dictation.

2. Soundreceiving apparatus for a transcriber of recorded dictation comprising a headset having two trans ducers with. respective earpieces for engaging the respective ears of the transcriber, a transcribing machine for reproducing recorded dictation, a source of music, circuit means for connecting one of said transducers to said transcribing machine, circuit means for connecting the other of said transducers to said source of music, and means for proportioning the sound levels at said transducers to cause said music to provide a low level background of sound while dictation is fed to the transcriber and to be readily audible as pure music during intervals when no dictation is fed to the transcriber.

3. Dictation transcribing equipment comprising a listeners headset, a dictation transcribing machine connected to said headset and having start-stop means to provide an interrupted source of dicatation audible to the transcriber, and a relatively continuous source of music connected also to said headset and of a low background level sufiicient to mask background noise in the listeners transcribing equipment while dictation is received but of insufficient level to mar the intelligence of the reproduced dictation.

4. A dictation transcribing system comprising a dictation transcribing machine for reproducing recorded dicta-i tion including a drive mechanism and start-stop control for said drive mechanism; a source of music; a transcribers headset adapted to be worn by a transcriber to mask out outside sounds and including a pair of earpieces and means for transmitting dictation from said transcribers machine and music from said source to said earpieces; and volume control means for adjusting said dictation and music relative sound levels causing the music to be audible when said transcribing machine is not running and to provide a relatively low-level background to the dictation received when the transcribing machine is running.

5. The dictation transcribing system set forth in claim 4 wherein said headset includes a bowed flexible sound conducting tube for holding the earpieces in place and for providing a sound coupling between the earpieces, a transducer mounted on one of said earpieces, and a cable for making electrical connections from said transcribing machine and source of music to said transducer.

6. A dictation transcribing system comprising a transcribing machine for reproducing recorded dictation including a drive mechanism and a start-stop means for said drive mechanism; a continuous source of music; a transcribers headset including a pair of transducers having earpieces and a sound tube intercoupling the earpieces; circuit means connecting said transcribing machine to one of said transducers and connecting said source of music References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,983,737 12/1934 Davenport 179107 X 2,846,521 8/1958 Beidler 179103 X 2,978,543 4/1961 Kennedy 1791.3 2 ,986,140 5/ 1961 Gardner et al 1791 X BERNARD KONICK, Primary Examiner.

IRVING L. SRAGOW, Examiner.

M. S. GITTES, G. LIEBERSTEIN, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A DICTATION TRANSCRIBER''S RECEIVING APPARATUS COMPRISING SEPARATE EARPIECES FOR THE RESPECTIVE EARS OF THE TRANSCRIBER, A SOUND TRANSMITTING TUBE CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID EARPIECES, MEANS FOR FEEDING DICTATION INTERMITTENTLY TO ONE OF SAID EARPIECES AT A CLEARLY AUDIBLE LEVEL, AND MEANS FOR FEEDING MUSIC RELATIVEY CONTINUOUSLY TO THE OTHER OF SAID EARPIECES AT A LOW SOUND LEVEL TO CAUSE THE MUSIC TO BE SUBSTANTIALLY MASKED BY THE DICTATION BUT TO BE AUDIBLE DURING INTERVALS OF NO DICTATION. 